Kazan, a Russian city in Tatarstan, two hours drive from Moscow, is pulling out all the stops in an effort to become the go-to computer science cluster in eastern Europe.
Following Kazan’s success in hosting the University Olympics in 2013, $1.5bn is being invested in a public-private partnership to create Innopolis, an “innovation city” 35km from the city centre.
The city, designed by RSP Architects Planners & Engineers of Singapore, will be based on sustainable smart city concepts and is a government-designated special economic zone. Innopolis University will be the first Russian IT university, opening officially in September this year, and will educate about 5,000 students.
Up to 155,000 residents in the city will live in low-rise apartment blocks and make use of purpose-built schools and state-of-the-art sports and recreation facilities. Kazan is also home to one of Russia’s best ski resorts and a leading golf club.
In the initial phase, 150 hectares of the 1,200 available will accommodate at least 60 tech companies. Anton Grachev, Innopolis city’s chief operating officer, said: “We have started building, which will take about a year, and then another year to fill it. We are trying to create an ideal environment in which to learn, live, work and rest.”
While comparisons are inevitably made to the larger but similar Skolkovo project in Moscow, with some pointing to a lack of commercialisation of Skolkovo’s research, Grachev explains the difference. “We are focusing entirely on IT and computer science and we have a strong commitment to commercialise the innovation generated.”
The flight time from Moscow is 1hr 25min, but international flights to Kazan are currently limited to Prague, Munich, Barcelona, Istanbul, Dubai and Bangkok. Innopolis management hopes the success of the project will encourage airlines to open new routes. Yaroslav Shvetsov, head of the business incubator, said: “We want to attract international corporates to work with us and maybe locate facilities here.”